Magenta flowers

I don't want this flower theme to end. Next weeks theme: flash. Yuck! I want to stay in my comfort zone (whine). I sure have been getting a lot of mileage out of my trip to the botanical garden last Sunday. Every post this week has been from that day. (I have used my camera every day, though.)

Yellow flower

A yellow version of yesterday's pink flower.

A pink flower

I have no idea what kind of flower this is. It reminds me of a peony, but it was much smaller. And I think it's too early for peonies. Anyway, I like pink flowers. :-D

Canon 40D with 100mm macro lens

ISO200 F2.8 SS1/1250

Hyacinth

Grape hyacinth. I liked the way it looked against the rock. It was just a little thing about six inches tall. If these are grape hyacinth, what kind are the ones we get at Easter that have open petals?

Canon 40D w/ 100mm macro lens

ISO200 F6.3 SS1/80

Bleeding heart

After seeing a few of you post bleeding heart photos, it made me realize how much I missed the one we left behind at our old house ten years ago. So when we went to the lilac festival the other day we bought a plant. This photo is of one of the ones blooming in their garden, though. I have to go find mine because I forgot to ask DH where he decided to plant it.

Lilac festival

I spent some time on Sunday at these beautiful local gardens where they were having their lilac festival. It smelled so pretty! There were all these pretty paths and lots of stuff in bloom already. Dealing with the midday sun and shadows was not so fun, but there was plenty of shade to be had too.

Canon 40D w/ 24-70mm lens at 24mm

ISO200, F5.0, SS1/400
Custom white balance

More cows

So NOW I notice that the theme this week is flowers, when I spent most of last week posting flowers. Oh well, I can always come up with plenty of flower photos. Especially since I went to a non-profit-foundation garden today and got a lot of flower photos. But since I haven't edited any of those yet, I'm starting the week with some more cows. Since they're in a field of dandelions, I'll count that as on theme. How do you suppose #107 knew to stand next to #108?

Cows

These girls made me happy. They were grazing, and when I walked up to take a photo, they all looked up at me at once. Gave me a chuckle. A sepia version:
And a b/w:
Any preference?

And yes, Kristina, that really is my kayak. :-) I would show you a photo of myself in a kayak, but in the only ones I have I look like today's photo subject so those won't be seeing the light of day.

Kayaking

Happiness is my kayak. And DH taking the day off from work so we can take the kayaks out for the first time this year. And beating the rain that rolled in a few hours later. The camera got stowed safely back in the car and didn't go out on the water with me (there is a disposable camera of mine on the bottom of this lake--I'll tell you that story sometime), so I did not get a photo of the eagle's nest and eagle that we saw, but that made me happy too. I realize that this is the second time in my POTD history that I've claimed to you that I saw an eagle and didn't get a photo. But it's true, I pinkie swear. :-)

Canon 40D
ISO400 F9.0 SS1/1000

Pink lady's slippers

Happiness is spotting the somewhat rare lady's slipper while out on your walk and then going back with your camera and crawling on the ground in the woods to get a shot. I think that's dandelion fuzz clinging to it. That stuff has been flying around here like it's snowing the past few days.You need a pair if you're going to have slippers:
Trying the rounded corners thing:
I actually didn't have to crawl very far into the woods. These were just off my road in a wooded area. I was very careful not to disturb or trample them because they're protected in some places. And because I try not to ever trample flowers. That's the dog's job. But I didn't let him trample the lady's slippers.

Bloomed iris

Thanks for the comments on my last post. That dandelion shot was one of those ones that when I saw it SOOC, I thought, "Meh." Then I adjusted levels and did a soft light layer in PS and thought, "Me likey!"

The irises from the other day bloomed. Flowers make me happy:

Fluff

My take on dandelion fluff:
And my theme photo/bird of the day photo. This is a rose-breasted grosbeak, and it makes me happy because it makes me think of my dad. Dad lives in Florida, and I'm here in Maine. He has a lot of health problems, and it's hard being so far from him. Last spring was a particularly hard time with him having some issues, and I was on the phone with him one day, bonding over backyard birds. I was telling him what birds I had seen at my feeders, and he told me that the rose-breasted grosbeak was one of his favorites. The next morning I saw one at my feeder for the very first time. I'm one of those people that believes God talks to me, but not in a burning-bush kind of way. :-D When I saw the bird that morning I felt like God was telling me Dad was going to be okay.
P.S. to you Yankee fans: We can still be friends if you don't speak of it. I'm just going to pretend you never mentioned anything. :-D

Happiness

I didn't feel like wrestling with my camera at the Red Sox game so I just brought my point and shoot with me, so here is a really bad photo. But it's my "happiness" theme photo of the day:Part of your identity if you're a Red Sox fan is a white-hot burning hatred of the Yankees. I have to admit, though, that ever since the Sox vanquished them in 2004, the hatred may burn just a little less hot. The Yankees have almost become....irrelevant. But I still hate them. A lot. Like really, really a lot.
And though I generally have the philosophy of "never say never," I have to admit that when Becky mentioned in my comments yesterday something about converting me to a Yankee fan, I thought, "Never!" The very idea is just so absurd to me. Never! Well, maybe if I had some kind of accident and became severely brain damaged. Nah, not even then. The basic instinct would have to remain. Never!

I just have to edit to add how excited I am that I just watched Jon Lester throw a no-hitter! !!! This young guy: diagnosed with cancer late in the season in 2006, got the win in the World Series clincher in 2007, and just threw a no-hitter. It's getting a little dusty in here. Sniff.

Helmets

I really love the combination of sepia action and Leah's texture on my baseball shots lately:

Canon 40D with 70-300mm lens at 300mm

ISO800 F5.6 SS1/640

As for my baseball shot from yesterday, I used my 70-300 lens for it, and they were posed for a photographer down on the field, and I just cropped her out. We have pretty decent seats too.

Take me out to the ballgame...again

I'm off to Boston Sunday to go see my beloved Red Sox play. Here is a photo from one of the games I attended last year:

The next thing to bloom

The next thing to bloom in my yard will be purple irises:

Canon 40D with 100mm macro lens, handheld
AV mode: F4.0 SS 1/500 ISO800 (keep forgetting to check that)
CWB, matrix metering mode
Exposure compensation +1.00 (forgot to check that too)
Boosted contrast, soft light layer, cropped and resized for web

Sorry I've been so late every day on commenting. My two kids have had 18 ball games in 12 days, and I started a Smugmug gallery to share those photos, and that's keeping me pretty busy. It was so much easier to stay caught up during the long winter months when I spent most days home and inside. :-) I don't know how those of you with small children and jobs do it. You're superwomen (and men)!

America Runs on Dunkin'

It was free iced coffee day at Dunkin' Donuts today. I had three! (decaf, though) One of the DDs had this nifty sand sculpture:
And then I played with the legs photo again, using some suggestions I got. I ran a vivid color action on it except for the legs to get rid of the orange, and I cropped it a little more to place the legs more off-center. The original jump photo doesn't have enough in the lower part of the frame to offer more context, so I left the composition basically as is:
And then I added some texture to my horseshoe shot:
And tried it with an acid wash action:

Doggie catchlights

I like to try to be on theme at least once a week. Baxter 's been my only catchlight model.

Horseshoes

My father-in-law's horseshoes. If you visit him, he'll challenge you to a game. And most likely whip your butt.

Canon 40D with 24-70mm lens at 48mm
Center weight metering
Av mode: ISO 640 F4.5 SS1/320
Custom white balance
Exposure compensation +1.00
Soft light layer in PSE

Thanks for all your comments. When I get a few minutes I'm going to play with the feet shot some more using some of your suggestions. I love playing with shots like that. And I realized I didn't say what it was a photo of. Sometimes I forget that I saw the pre-cropped version and other people might not know what it is. It was DD jumping on a trampoline, and that's the safety netting behind her. She was in her semi-formal dress because I thought that would make a fun jumping shot, but when they didn't come out like I'd hoped, I thought I'd crop and play.

She's got legs

What is your opinion of this shot? If you hate it, you can tell me. It won't hurt my feelings. I may look at it in an hour and hate it myself. I was just playing in PS.

DD's first semi-formal dance

Dd, sixth grade, on her way to her first semi-formal dance Saturday night (or as I like to call it, the semi-normal). The cutest ones I took are of her with her friend(s) but since I don't have permission to post their beautiful faces, here's one I could crop pretty easily. I can't believe this is my baby!

Bird of the day: hawk

Milestone day today--DS hit his first high school home run, and DD went to her first semi-formal dance. It's been busy! Just a couple of quick shots taken from my car as I zipped home quickly between events. This guy was sitting on the telephone wire on my road.

Canon 40D with 70-300 lens at 300mm
Av mode: ISO800, F5.6, SS1/8000 EV +1.00

All baseball all the time

Basically the only thing I've been shooting all week is baseball and softball.

Canon 40D with 70-300mm lens at 70mm
Tv mode F4.0 SS1/1000 ISO640
Custom White Balance
Sepia action and Leah's texture applied

Shaker Village

The Shaker religion was founded in England in 1747, and at its height it had several thousand members. Now there are less than 10 Shakers in the whole world. I am fortunate to live close to the last remaining Shaker community in the world. It's a pretty cool place to visit
Shaker Village. I drove by again yesterday on the way home from a ball game and stopped to take a few photos. This is a photo of their graveyard. It's a fenced area without individual grave markers, just this one marker in the middle. It's a great example of the Shaker way of life. I'm not thrilled with this photo. I was rapidly losing the light. I think it's a really cool subject nonetheless.
I'm also a big fan of their furniture. :-)

My mom

Shh, don't tell her I posted it. I don't know why this would bother her because I think she looks great. Anyway, I just look at this photo and feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Not only is she a great mom, she is an amazing Nana. I never had a grandmother growing up, so I'm thrilled and thankful that my kids have such wonderful ones in their lives. She is my kids' biggest fan, and I love that they have that relationship. I'm also really thankful that I still have her in my life. Seven years ago she had a near-fatal heart attack and had emergency bypass surgery. I'm so proud of her that she quit smoking that day and hasn't had a cigarette since. She's a hiker, a rock climber, a winter camper, a snowshoer, a cross-country skier, a kayaker, a canoeist, a builder of her own home from the ground up, a voracious reader, a sharp wit, and a fellow nature lover. We also make a daunting team when we pair up for games because we think alike (and will gloat unbecomingly when we kick your butt). My mom rocks!

I love my mom

I'm still working on getting a photo of my mom up for the theme this week. I just had this conversation with her:
Me: "Can I have your permission to put a photo of you on my blog?"
Mom: "Why?"
Me: "Cuz."
Mom: "Well, what picture?"
Me: "I dunno; maybe the one I gave Jim for Christmas?"
Mom: "Well, everyone has already seen that."
(I accidentally on purpose didn't tell her I meant my POTD blog, not the family blog.)
Me: "Well, I like it."
Mom: "All right. But photoshop out EVERY wrinkle and make my teeth as white as Tom Cruise's. He is so weird. Did you see him on Oprah? We've been making fun of him all week."
Me: "No, I can't watch Oprah anymore; she gets on my nerves."

So until I complete my evil plan of exposing mom to the seedy underworld known as the Internet, I'm going with some more baseball shots. It's been nothing but baseball, baseball, baseball, and softball, softball, softball around here. Wahoo!

Just went back over the photos of the "controversial" play and noticed how much dust DS is eating:

On this one I ran a sepia action and then used Leah's texture she shared on PIF. Leah is awesome!

Still on last week's theme

I guess I'm still on the water theme. I tried water drops again today. This was so teeny-tiny; the set of leaves was probably an inch or so in size.

Canon 40D with 100mm macro lens

ISO200, F2.8, SS1/1250

Bird of the day, red-winged blackbird:

Canon 40D with 70-300mm lens

ISO1600 F5.6 SS1/400

And does anyone know what this is? I bet that Pat, our resident horticultural expert, will know. I'm guessing it's some type of fungus on this tree. (Kind of looks like something a cat would leave in your sandbox, doesn't it? :-P)

Canon 40D with 70-300mm lens
ISO800, F5.6, SS1/1000

A bird, a dog, and a girl

Bird of the day, a blue jay. Shot through a window w/ Canon 40D with 70-300 lens at 300 mm, ISO1600 F5.6 SS1/400 Do you think my dog is spoiled? This looks really bad on here. It didn't look this bad in Photoshop. Not good, but not this bad ;-). Anyway. Also shot with 40D and same lens at 70mm, ISO800 F4.0 SS1/15. This is so typically Baxter I wanted to show you.
The theme this week is important women in our lives. I'm going to need some type of special dispensation before I can get a photo of my mom up, so here's one of my favorite girl who will be a woman much too soon. She looks like she has no arms.
Remember that photo the other day that looked like DS had four legs? Put these two photos together and it looks like I was exposed to some horrible toxins while pregnant with them.

You make the call

Not a great photo, but I want to play "What's your call?" Is the runner safe or out?Here it is cropped in closer:
Here's my assessment:
Now let's look at that again. See the ump?

You blew the call, buddy, and my 40D proves it! I think I love this camera.
No harm, though. Our boys came back from a 5-0 deficit to win it. My DS is the player in navy blue with his back to the camera.

Shot in AV mode at ISO500 F5.0 SS1/400